Vienna  the capital of Austria-Hungary, the residence of the emperor, and the seat of a Latin archbishopric  is situated at the north-east end of the Alps, mainly on the right bank of the Danube.

The city of Vienna

History

The first settlers on the site were Celts, about five hundred years before Christ. Shortly before the Christian era the land was occupied by the Romans under Tiberius, stepson of the Emperor Augustus; a permanent Roman camp for the thirteenth legion was established on the spot, and remains of this camp still exist. The first mention of the place in Roman literature is in Pliny's encyclopedia (about A.D. 77), where it is called Vianiomina, while the inscriptions extant use only the form Vindobona. During the reign of Domitian, Vindobona was a naval port, under Trajan it was the station for the tenth legion, the legion of the imperial family. During his struggle with the Marcomanni Marcus Aurelius often stayed at Vindobona and finally died there. After this there began an amalgamation of the Romans resident at Vindobona with the Germans who were forcing their way into the empire. Caracalla raised Vindobona to the rank of a municipality with mayors (duumviri) and town councils. The martyrdom, about 303, of St. Florian during the persecution of Galerius proves that as early as the third century Christianity had gained entrance into Vienna. In 427 Vindobona together with Pannonia, to which it belonged, fell to the Eastern Roman Empire; in 448 it was ceded to Attila and after his death was independent. During the migrations Vienna was conquered and plundered by the Huns and Ostrogoths, most of its inhabitants taking refuge in the mountains. Vienna is first mentioned again in the Chronicles when Charlemagne advanced down the Danube in 791, destroyed the Empire of the Avars, and formed the East Mark out of the region between the River Enns and the mountains called Wienerwald. There is but little mention of Vienna in the succeeding era, which signifies that no legal changes had occurred within its walls. According to ancient tradition the oldest parish church of Vienna was founded in the Carolingian period. This was St. Rupprecht's, built on a Roman foundation and probably dedicated by Archbishop Arno of Salzburg. In the tenth century the East Mark was held for a time by the Magyars, but restored to the empire, when it was settled by Bavarian peasants. Then it was transferred by the Saxon kings to the Babenbergs. Conquered by the Magyars in 1030, it was restored to the empire by the victory of the German King Henry III over the Magyar King Aba.

By the middle of the twelfth century Vienna was a town of importance and a centre of German civilization in eastern Europe. The four churches, of which only one was a parish church, no longer met religious needs; consequently in 1137 a second parish church, that of St. Stephen, was founded. The church was solemnly dedicated in 1147 in the presence of the German Emperor Conrad III, of Bishop Otto of Freising, and of other German nobles who were going to the East on a Crusade. In 1156 the East Mark became an independent duchy and the bishops to whose diocese it belonged built residences for themselves at Vienna. Thus there arose within the city walls the residences of the Bishops of Salzburg, Freising, and Seckau, of the Abbots of Klosterneuburg, Melk, Göttweig, Heiligenkreuz, etc. Through the favour of the Babenberg dynasty a flourishing church life developed. In 1158 Henry Jasomirgott founded what is called the Scotch monastery (Schottenkloster) for IrishBenedictines, who were called Scots by the common people; until 1418 the monks were entirely Irish. Leopold VI built the church of St. Michael near the new palace for the people of his court and the citizens who lived near the palace. He also invited Dominicans from Hungary, after his return from Palestine gave a house an chapel to the Franciscans, and offered a friendly reception to the Teutonic Knights; who thereupon built a house of their order at Vienna. At about the same time the Knights of St. John of Jerusalem settled in the town. The churches of St. Paul and St. Nicholas, the convents of the Cisterciannuns of St. Nicholas, of the Penitents of St. Mary Magdalen, and other convents were built outside the city walls. Leopold VI sought, although unsuccessfully, to release Austria from the ecclesiastical control of the Bishops of Passau and to make Vienna the see of an independent bishopric. In 1198 the city had already its own jurisdiction; in 1221 Leopold VI gave it a new municipal law, the privileges of which were still further increased by the last of the Babenberg dynasty, Frederick II (1230-46). All these circumstances increased the importance and prosperity of the city, so that Vienna became the most prominent city on the Danube as a prosperous commercial place, the home of noted Minnesingers, a centre of much visited tournaments, etc. Towards the close of the thirteenth century a decided change took place for Vienna; it became the centre of the great empire which the Habsburgs acquired in the course of centuries, of which Rudolph laid the foundation. The citizens of Vienna fought readily under the flag of the Habsburgs against the Magyars (1291, 1403), the Hussites (1421-25), the Bohemians and Moravians, Matthias Corvinus, the Turks, etc., and received from the ruling house a charter whereby their rights could not be infringed either by nobles or ecclesiastics; these rights included the holding of fiefs, free election of burgomaster and city councillors, jurisdiction over life and property, while they undertook the defence of the city. Duke Rudolph IV (1358-65), in particular, suppressed most of the courts existing in the city, limited the right of sanctuary, and forbade the building of houses without the consent of the city council. In order to make Vienna a centre also of learning he founded in 1365 a university, which he endowed richly and to which he invited distinguished scholars from Germany and France. He added a cathedral chapter to the parishchurch of St. Stephen, and made the crypt of the church the place of burial for the Habsburg dynasty. He also enlarged the church and laid the corner-stone of the high south tower. His brother and successor, Albert III (1366-95), encouraged the university and acquired Trieste, thus making the commerce of Vienna independent of Venice. In the first half of the fifteenth century the prominent position of Vienna was still maintained, although the university was ravaged by the pest, the Hussites advanced almost as far as the city, and the good relations of Vienna with the ruler were disturbed, because Vienna sided with the Antipope Felix V, while Frederick III adhered to Eugenius IV. There is a celebrated description of Vienna during this era written by Æneas Sylvius, later Pope Pius II, who was one of the most distinguished men of Vienna during the years 1443-55; he asserts that of all the cities on the Danube none is richer, has a larger population, nor is more charming than Vienna, the chief town of the country and the queen of the cities of Eastern Europe. Through the efforts of Frederick III Vienna was raised to the rank of a diocese.

In the second half of the fifteenth century Vienna began to decline. After the advance of the Turks into Europe the feeling of security had disappeared, and on account of the debasement of the currency and the dearness of living foreign merchants avoided Vienna more and more. The spread of Humanism led to violent conflicts at the university, which lost much of its renown. The revolt in 1461 of a large part of the citizens against Frederick III, which cost the burgomaster his office and life, the siege of the city by Matthias Corvinus in the years 1482-8, and the supremacy of this king for the five years 1485-90, caused the prosperity of the city to decay. The growth of the power of the Habsburg dynasty during the reign of Maximilian was no benefit to the city of Vienna itself. After the discovery of the sea-route to the East Indies and the discovery of America, international commerce followed another course; this led to a great decline in the importance of Vienna for trade with Italy and the East. When, after the death of Maximilian, Vienna revolted against his grandson Ferdinand, a new municipal Constitution was introduced, which annulled the former autonomy and a large part of the ancient rights and privileges of the city and strengthened the power of the sovereign. To the internal confusion was added the danger of the Turks, who advanced farther and farther up the Danube and on 19 September, 1525, appeared before Vienna. The heroism of the besieged, who abandoned all the suburbs of Vienna in order to concentrate for the protection of the inner city, forced Sultan Suleiman to abandon the siege in the middle of October and to withdraw after murdering 2000 prisoners. As, however, the Turks ruled a large part of Hungary and constantly renewed the war from this base, Vienna was now constantly in danger of conquest by them. The effects of the Reformation were fully as destructive for Vienna as the danger from the Turks. The new doctrine found entrance first among the nobility and then spread through a large part of the population, as at first the Government did not take strong measures against the innovations. The work of the Counter-Reformation was not zealously promoted until the Jesuits were called to Vienna in 1551, and until, in particular, the reigns of the emperors Ferdinand II and III. Unlike Rudolph II, these rulers preferred to live at Vienna, to which they invited numerous artists, poets, musicians, and scholars. The citizens were obliged to take an oath to conform to the Catholic religion; large numbers of monasteries and brotherhoods laboured to revive the Catholic religion, partly by preaching and partly by education and training. Besides the disastrous effects of the danger from the Turks and the Reformation, the prosperity of Vienna was also kept in check by the fact that on account of the danger of its position it had to be turned into a strong fortress, a condition very unfavourable to the health of the city. Terrible devastation was caused by the plague during the years 1541, 1570, 1586, and 1679.

Vienna had to suffer another siege by the mortal foe of Christendom during the reign of Emperor Leopold I. Influenced by Louis XIV of France, the sultan sent directly against Vienna an army of 200,000 men under the command of the Grand Vizier Kara Mustapha; this army appeared before the city before the gathering of the imperial army had been completed. The defenders of Vienna were led by Count Rudiger von Starrhemberg, Bishop Leopold Kollonitz, who laboured unweariedly for the wounded and for the obtaining of provisions, and the burgomaster, Johann Andreas von Liebenberg. The Turks began the attack 13 July, 1683, and made violent assaults almost daily; the number of defenders sank from day to day, hunger and misery appeared, and the hospitals were full of sick and wounded. It was not until early in September that the relieving army, which had collected at Tulln, set out for Vienna; the commander-in-chief was the King of Poland, John Sobieski; among his generals were Charles of Lorraine, Maximilian Emmanuel of Bavaria, Margrave Louis of Bavaria, and others. The memorable battle began on 12 September; the Christian army descended form the Kahlenberg in three charges and won a brilliant victory over the Turks. Thenceforth Austria and Germany were permanently relieved of the danger of invasion by the Turks, and Vienna was released from its difficult position of being the outpost of Christendom.

The eighteenth century brought a new internal organization of the empire for the provinces of Austria. The erection of large ecclesiastical and secular buildings made it a capital worthy of the emperor and his empire. Thus the ties uniting Vienna and its rulers were constantly drawn together. Consequently the Viennese welcomed the Pragmatic Sanction, by which Charles VI secured the unity and indivisibility of the monarchy: they hailed with joy the entry of the Empress Maria Theresa and the birth of her son Joseph II. Vienna also tolerated in some degree the reforms that Joseph II wished to introduce in ecclesiastical and secular affairs, odious though they were in themselves because by his friendliness towards the citizens he had done much for the beautifying and improvement of the city. When, after the death of Francis I, Ferdinand I came into power and none of the much-needed reforms were undertaken, although such were urged by the estates, discontent constantly increased and the conviction that absolutism could not be maintained became almost universal. The Liberals and Democrats of all countries violently attacked the Austrian Government as the chief enemy of all political and intellectual advance. This discontent found expression in 1848, when the revolutionary wave from France spread over almost the whole of Europe. Vienna took the lead in the movement in Austria which aimed to overthrow the existing system of absolutism. On 16 March, 1848, Emperor Ferdinand proclaimed a Constitution, granted the freedom of the press, and the right of the people to bear arms, but the Radical leaders kept up the discontent of the people, notwithstanding the concessions, and succeeded in having the Constitution rejected as insufficient. On 2 December, 1848, Francis Joseph became emperor in succession to his uncle Ferdinand, who abdicated voluntarily. Vienna now developed rapidly as the capital and residence of the ruler. Its prosperity was only temporarily interrupted by economic crises and wars as in 1859 and 1866. In 1895 the supremacy of the Liberal party in the city council was broken by the Christian Socialists. Under the guidance of the great burgomaster, Karl Lüger (1897-1910), Vienna became not only one of the best administered cities economically, but there also sprang up such an abundance of institutions for public and social benefit as no other large city of the world can show. Religious life has also enjoyed a great revival under the supremacy of the Christian Socialists.

Statistics

On 31 December, the city of Vienna numbered, including the garrison, 2,004,493 inhabitants; of these 1,767,223 were Catholics (including 3723 adherents of the Greek Rite and 125 adherents of the Armenian Rite), about 60,000 Protestants, and about 150,000 Jews. The city is divided into 21 administration districts; of these 20 lie on the right bank of the Danube proper, 9 constitute Old Vienna which up to 1891 was separated from the adjacent districts by a circle of fortifications. Ecclesiastically there are 4 city deaneries, 76 parishes with the same number of parish churches, 77 monastery churches, chapels of ease, and public chapels, and about 100 private chapels. In 1912 there were in the city 308 secular priests of the diocese, 103 regulars, and 45 priests from other dioceses, 44 houses of 25 male orders, and 121 houses of 27 female orders. Besides the chief officials of the archdiocese, Vienna is also the see of the Apostolic field vicariate of the imperial and royal army and navy, which is immediately under the direction of the pope. Only the most important of the churches can here be mentioned: the cathedral of St. Stephen, a Gothic building of three naves of equal height, with a south tower 449.5 feet high. The cathedral is the most important Gothic building of the Austrian territories; it was dedicated in 1147 as a small Romanesque church, after the fire of 1293 was rebuilt in the Gothic style during the fourteenth to sixteenth centuries, and since 1852 has been completely restored by the architects, Ernst Fr. Schmidt and Hermann. The Votiv Kirche of Our Saviour, one of the most beautiful Gothicchurches of modern times, was built 1856-79 according to the plans of Ferstel, in commemoration of the escape of the Emperor Francis Joseph from assassination in 1853. It has a very rich façade and two towers each 316 feet high. The church of Maria Stiegen (Maria on the riverbank), the national church of the Czechs, was built in the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries in the Late Gothic style; the heptagonal tower was erected in 1536. The "Karlskirche", an elaborate structure in the Baroque style with a huge cupola, is the masterpiece of Fischer von Erlach, and was erected 1715-37. The parish church "zu den sieben Zufluchten" was built by Muller (1848-61), in the Italian Roundarched style with an octagonal cupola and two towers each 223 feet high; the church of the Lazarists was built 1860-62 in Early Gothic style after the design of F. Schmidt; St. Brigitta, a Gothicchurch, erected in 1862-73 by the same architect; the Gothicchurch of the Augustinians, dating from the fourteenth century, contains the celebrated monument by Canova of Maria Christina, daughter of the Empress Maria Theresa; the Capuchin church erected n the Baroque style (1622-32) contains the crypt of the imperial family with 132 coffins; St. Pete, the second oldest church of Vienna, rebuilt in the Baroque style (1702-13) by Fischer von Erlach. Associational church life is highly developed in the city of Vienna, and there are numerous Catholiccharitable institutions.

The diocese of Vienna

History

The territory which now belongs to the Diocese of Vienna was subject, from the time the Germans acquired it, to the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Passau, who was represented in Vienna by an official. At the beginning of the thirteenth century Duke Leopold VI began negotiations with Rome for the founding of a separate bishopric for Vienna, but these efforts failed owing to the opposition of the Bishops of Passau. Like the rulers of the Babenberg dynasty the first princes of the house of Habsburg also desired to make Vienna an independent diocese. However Emperor Frederick III was the first to bring it about; in 1469 two dioceses were established at the same time in the Austrian territories by the Bull "In supremae dignitatis specula"; these sees were placed directly under the control of the pope: one was for the city of Vienna, which then contained three parishes, and for the fourteen, later sixteen, parishes of its immediate vicinity; the second was for the city of Wiener-Neustadt. The right to appoint the bishops of these two small dioceses was given by Pope Paul II to Emperor Frederick III and his successors. The church of St. Stephen was made the cathedral church of the Diocese of Vienna. The Bishop of Passau did not withdraw his opposition until 1481, consequently it was not until this year that the Bull of erection could be formally proclaimed in the presence of a papal envoy, Bishop Alexander of Forli, and a deputy of the Archbishop of Salzburg, the primate of Germany. In 1471 Frederick III appointed as first bishop Count Leopold of Spaur, who was not, however, able to occupy his see. The small endowment of the dioceses was the main reason why during the first century administrators rather than bishops were generally appointed. The first administrator was Johann Beckenslör or Peckenschlager (1480-82), formerly Archbishop of Gran, from which he had been driven by the Magyars; he received the archiepiscopal See of Salzburg in 1482. This bishop was succeeded by Bernhard Rohrer (1482-87), who could only exercise his office for a short period on account of the siege and occupation of Vienna by Matthias Corvinus. The diocese was administered during the supremacy of Matthias Corvinus by his court preacher, Urban Docsi.

After Vienna came again under the control of the Habsburgs the succession of administrators was as follows: Matthias Scheidt (1490-93), Bishop of Seckau; Johann Vitéz (1493-99), private secretary to Matthias Corvinus and a zealous promoter of Humanism; Bernhard Pollheim of Wartenberg (1499-1504), formerly rector of the University of Padua, and Franz Bakacs of Erdod (1504-09), Bishop of Raab. After a vacancy of several years the diocese was administered by Georg Slatkonia, Bishop of Piben in Istria (1513-22); Petrus Bonomo, Bishop of Trieste and governor of the Austrian Netherlands (1522-23), and Johann of Revellis (1523-39), chief almoner of Archduke Ferdinand. Distinguished administrators were Johann Faber (1533-41) and Frederick Nausea (1541-52). After the death of Nausea's successor, Christopher Werthwein (1552-53), the cathedral chapter undertook the administration of the Diocese, Peter Canisius aiding it by advice and deed in the struggle against the religious innovations. Bishop Anthony Bruns, who was appointed in 1558, received the Archdiocese of Prague in 1561. His successor Urban Sagstetter, a zealous defender of the ancient Faith, resigned in 1568, on account of the violent opposition he encountered among the clergy and laity, who were largely inclined to Lutheranism. After his resignation the chapter undertook the spiritual administration. Johann Kaspar Neubock (1574-94), formerly professor at the University of Freiburg in the Breisgau, was the first of the unbroken series of the actual Bishops of Vienna. During his episcopate the Protestant movement, which he opposed to the best of his ability, although without great success, reached its culmination at Vienna. His successor Cardinal Melchior Klesl (1598-1630) introduced the Counter-Reformation in Austria with the aid of Emperors Ferdinand II and III and carried it to a successful termination. Anthony Wolfrath of Cologne (1631-39), who was also Bishop-Abbot of Kremsmünster, obtained for himself and his successors the dignity of a prince of the empire.

Among the most distinguished of his successors were: the zealous and energetic Prince-Bishop Philip Frederick Count of Breuner (1639-69), the Capuchin Emmerich Sinelli (1680-85), councillor of the emperor, during whose episcopate the memorable siege of Vienna by the Turks occurred; Francis Ferdinand Freiherr von Rummel (1609-16), who was the tutor of the later Emperor Joseph I; Prince-Bishop Sigmund Count von Kollonitz (1716-51), nephew of Bishop Kollonitz of Wiener-Neustadt, who won imperishable glory during the siege of Vienna. During this episcopate Pope Innocent XIII, at the request of Emperor Charles VI, raised the Diocese of Vienna in 1722 to the rank of an archdiocese and gave it the formerly exempt Diocese of Wiener-Neustadt as suffragan. In 1729 the diocese was enlarged by the addition of the parishes in the "district under the Wienerwald" which had formerly belonged to Passau. His successor John Joseph Count von Trautson (1751-57) was regarded as a free-thinker on account of his leniency towards Protestants and his enmity to the Jesuits, although he was zealous for the training and discipline of the clergy. During the episcopate of Cardinal Anthony Christopher von Migazzi (1757-1803), the keen adversary of the Josephine system, the Diocese of Vienna received its present boundaries. In 17895 the Diocese of Wiener-Neustadt was suppressed and incorporated in that of Vienna; in addition Vienna received the parishes of the "district under the Mannhartsberg" in Lower Austria, and five parishes of the Diocese of Raab. At the same time the two Dioceses of Lins and St. Polten, which Joseph II had erected against the wish of the pope and of the Bishop of Passau, were made suffragans of Vienna. Migazzi was followed by Sigmund Anthony Count von Hohenwart (1803-20), who had been a tutor of the Emperor Francis II, and was distinguished for charity and his care for the training of the clergy; Leopold Maximilian Firmian (1820-31), formerly administrator of Salzburg; Eduard Milde (1831-530, the celebrated pedagogue; Cardinal Othmar Rauscher (1851-75), a noted statesman and orator. Rauscher's successors were also raised to the cardinalate: John Rudolph Kutschker (1876-81), a distinguished scholar in canon law; Colestin Joseph Ganglbauer (1881-89), noted for his kindness and benevolence, who was formerly abbot of the Benedictine Abbey of Kremsmünster; Anthony Joseph Gruscha (1890-1911), who like his predecessor did much to relieve the lack of churches; Gruscha also deserves great praise for his labours in regard to Catholic associational life in Vienna, especially in respect to the Catholic Gesellenverein, which he and Kolping founded in Austria. He was the president of its central association for Austria-Hungary while still archbishop. The present archbishop is Francis Xavier Nagl, b. at Vienna 26 November, 1855, rector of the German national church, Santa Maria dell'Anima at Rome in 1889, Bishop of Capo D'Istria in 1899, coadjutor at Vienna with the right of succession in 1910, Prince Archbishop of Vienna 5 August, 1911, made cardinal 27 November, 1911.

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